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Defiant Akin Refuses to Quit; Ryan Visits Swing State of Virginia; Prince Harry Naked in Vegas Suite; GOP Backs Anti-Abortion Platform; Romney Backs Abortion Exception; Late-Night TV War Heats Up; College Lowers Costs for Immigrants; Existing Home Sales Up 2.3 Percent in July; West Nile Outbreak Explodes

Aired August 22, 2012 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Happening right now in the NEWSROOM, standing firm despite calls from his own party, a defiant and determined Todd Akin staying in the race this morning. Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, Scott Walker, Kay Bailey Hutchison, all asking Akin to drop out.

Chris the Baker, the owner of Radford, Virginia's, Crumb and Get It speaking at a Paul Ryan event in Roanoke, Virginia, this morning. He's the small business owner who turned down Joe Biden's visit last week. So is Chris the Baker the next Joe the Plumber?

Helping hand or special treatment? A Denver area university giving undocumented students a discounted tuition, almost half of what out- of-state students pay. Some are even saying the policy is illegal. The university's president will join me live.

And, oh, Harry. The partying prince caught in a late-night naked game of strip billiards. The photos of the royal romp going viral. An embarrassment for Buckingham Palace as the third in line for the throne grabs headlines this Wednesday morning.

NEWSROOM begins right now.

And good morning, it is Wednesday, thank you so much for joining me. I'm Carol Costello. We begin this hour with a politician who has alienated his own party, yet may have fired up his fellow staunch conservatives. This time yesterday Missouri Congressman Todd Akin was launching an ad blitz apologizing for his ill-advised comments on legitimate rape. His words so offensive Republican leaders and even Mitt Romney demanded he quit the Senate race he was actually leading. Today Akin is not only defiant, he sounds downright angry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TODD AKIN (R), MISSOURI: Over more than a year period of time, a number of us ran in this Republican primary. Each of us had our messages. I was outspent by a large amount in terms of media. And yet, by standing on principle and putting politics aside and talking about the foundations of this country, the people in Missouri chose me to be their candidate. And I don't believe it's right for party bosses to decide to override those orders.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Dana Bash is our senior congressional correspondent.

So, Dana, Akin says his base is now mobilizing to support him. What are you hearing?

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you said that Akin sounds angry. I can tell you talking to Republicans trying to push him out, they sound exasperated. I talked to one source this morning, Carol, who told me the party is just now expecting to, quote, "grind it out for a while." They're waiting to watch a few things, a few dynamics and see how they unfold.

One is money. Whether or not given the fact that the party and outside groups like Crossroads, the Karl Rove's group, they're saying no more money. Whether that will affect him or whether he will be able to raise money from some angry grassroots folks out there who are mad at the party. They're just going to wait and see.

And then the other is support. He actually hasn't been in Missouri for a few days. He's been in his -- in the state of Ohio, which is where his political consultants are. Now he's back, he went back late last night. So they're going to see whether or not now that he's there he feels isolated or supported.

COSTELLO: So I guess the bottom line for the nation and the GOP, how much does this hurt Republicans?

BASH: A lot. I mean, there's no sugar coating in talking to Republican officials, Carol. It's fascinating. You know, first and foremost, because they know it puts the divisive issue of abortion front and center.

I want you to listen to how Akin himself described the way -- why he's staying in the race. He did it this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AKIN: There are many victims of rape, and it is extremely serious. As I said, it's a violent crime. It leaves permanent scars. And it's -- in that regard, that's why I apologize because I said hurtful things. But I don't apologize for being pro-life and standing up for the ones who are defenseless and that is a deep conviction that I have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: And Carol, that's a deep conviction for a very significant part of the Republican base. But for the general election, especially on the presidential level, GOP sources I'm talking to worried that could really hurt among swing voters especially women, those undecided women in key swing states. A new poll this morning says that the gulf right between the president and Mitt Romney is 10 points. Republicans are worried that that could widen with all this focus on abortion.

COSTELLO: Dana Bash reporting live for us from Washington. Happening now, a crowd and the buzz are building outside a hardware store in Roanoke, Virginia. The reason and appearance of vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, that's set to start in just about 10 minutes. Introductions are being made right now.

It's the Republican's third visit to the swing state since he joined the Romney ticket and it's also the state where Mitt Romney introduced Ryan as his running mate.

CNN political director Mark Preston is in Tampa, the site of next week's Republican national convention.

So, Mark, does the GOP view Virginia as a must-win state?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: Well, Carol, not only does the GOP view it, but so does the Obama campaign. Fact of the matter is, the 13 electoral votes on the line in the commonwealth of Virginia. President Obama won it in 2008. He was the first Democrat to do so since Lyndon Johnson did in 1964.

Let's put this in just basic mathematics. The state that I sit in right now, Florida. If Barack Obama wins it, Mitt Romney has to clear the board on all the other toss-up states including Virginia. Virginia is seen as a key right now for the Republicans to take back the White House. And that's why we're seeing Paul Ryan down there right now campaigning -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I want to talk a little bit about a man who could be the new Joe the plumber. Tell us about this baker in Virginia and the point he is making as Paul Ryan comes to visit.

PRESTON: Sure. Now what happened was is that Joe Biden was down there campaigning himself. He sent an advanced team in to go to a bakery down in Radford, which is a town dowen in the southwest corner of Virginia. A very Republican area, except for a little piece where Radford is next to, it was called Montgomery County. It's where Virginia Tech is.

The Obama campaign advance team went in and asked the owner of Crumb and Get It, which is a bakery down there, if Joe Biden could stop by. The owner politely declined, and the reason was because of his politics and of his faith. He didn't want Joe Biden to come to his bakery. He was very polite about it according to the "Roanoke Times." He said thank you, but no thank you.

Well, here we are today. As you said, Paul Ryan is at this hardware store. Well, guess who is providing the cookies at this event? None other than the owner of Crumb and Get It, Carol. So there you go. Politics and baking all come together as one.

COSTELLO: OK. So Paul Ryan has Chris the baker.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: Thanks so much, Mark Preston. Live in Florida this morning. PRESTON: Thanks, Carol.

COSTELLO: Paul Ryan's getting a warm welcome on the campaign trail, but a new poll suggests his appearance on the ticket has not moved the needle much for Romney. The NBC News/"Wall Street Journal" survey shows support for President Obama at 48 percent and Romney at 44 percent.

It's worth noting two things. The poll was conducted entirely after Ryan was named as Romney's running mate and secondly the margin of error puts the race at a virtual dead heat.

So more specifically, what is Ryan's influence on the presidential race? The same poll shows that more than half of Americans say it has absolutely no effect at all on their presidential choice. Those who did claim some effect from the choice were evenly split on whether it's a positive or a negative influence.

You've probably never seen Prince Harry quite like this. The member of Britain's royal family caught naked, although he was wearing a watch and a necklace. But he was caught virtually naked after a game of strip billiards in Vegas. I bet you didn't know there was such a thing as strip billiards but, yes, there is.

TMZ published the photos. And Buckingham Palace confirms these images are, indeed of Prince Harry. Now some people say the incident raises questions about the prince's security. Other people say it raises a lot more than that.

CNN's Matthew Chance is in London.

Wow. What are people saying there about these photos?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you've got to -- you've got to chuckle about it, haven't you, Carol? Really, I mean, these are very salacious images, no doubt. They're not particularly newsworthy in the sense that he's not doing anything wrong. I mean he's a 27-year-old guy. He's on a break from the Army, and this is just him in one sense letting off steam as it were.

But it does raise a couple of very serious issues. The first one, the privacy issue. The fact that somebody in his entourage, we don't know who, took this photograph and released it to the press, possibly for money. And the second issue it raises is, of course, the judgments of Prince Harry. I mean he's been in similar controversial situations in the past. In 2005, I think, he was pictured wearing a Nazi uniform to a fancy dress party. He was accused in the past of underage alcohol and drug abuse. Various other controversies, as well. And I guess this is just another salacious example of that.

COSTELLO: So could he face any repercussions?

CHANCE: No, I don't think so. I mean, obviously, he's not done anything wrong, exactly. I mean I expect there'll be some very red faces in Buckingham Palace here behind me. Behind the scenes people at St. James -- in Clarence the residence, where his father and his offices are run out of have said, yes, he messed up on this occasion, I expect he'll get a dressing down, I suppose you should say.

But there won't be any formal repercussions. Perhaps they'll redouble the attempt to make sure he doesn't, you know, kind of expose himself to this kind of controversy in the future.

COSTELLO: I'm just curious. Just one last question. Do the people of Great Britain love Prince Harry for doing this kind of stuff? Are they just not surprised? It's just Prince Harry? How do they feel about it?

CHANCE: Well, he's got this -- he's got this reputation as being a bit of a playboy prince. This, obviously, adds to that whole idea. I mean, there was a sense, I think, that you know, Prince Harry had been trying along with his press (INAUDIBLE) to rebrand himself as a bit more serious.

He took a leading role, of course, during the closing ceremony of the Olympics here in London a few weeks back. He's been into conflict in Afghanistan and that's been something that's added to the seriousness of his image.

But this kind of episode, obviously, undermines a lot of the hard work that's been done to the serious up his image a bit.

COSTELLO: Matthew Chance live in London for us this morning and fully clothed.

E-mail threats to President Obama. Wait until you hear how authorities were greeted when they moved in to make an arrest in that case.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Fourteen minutes past the hour. Thanks to Congressman Todd Akin, the abortion debate is front and center right now across the country. And although many Republicans are castigating Akin they also support Akin's underlying belief that all abortion is wrong even if a woman is raped. It's part of the party's official platform.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. BOB MCDONNELL (R), PLATFORM COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: Hearing no other amendments that section will be closed and I appreciate the good work that committee did and passed platforms that has been hours of discussion. And I applaud the committee's work in affirming our respect for human life. Well done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The platform reads in part, quote, "We support a human life amendment to the constitution and endorse legislation to make clear the 14th Amendment's protections apply to unborn children," end quote. That would ban abortion outright even in cases of rape or incest. Now it is important to know Governor Romney backs a provision to allow abortions in cases of rape and incest. His running mate, Paul Ryan, is for no exceptions. We're going to talk to both sides of this highly contested debate. We begin with Dawn Laguens. She's the executive vice president for Policy, Advocacy, and Communications of Planned Parenthood.

Welcome, Dawn.

DAWN LAGUENS, EXEC. V.P., PLANNED PARENTHOOD: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: I know you're taken aback by this. But Mr. Romney says he does support in cases of rape or incest. Won't his views trump the party's platform?

LAGUENS: I think you would have to say that that's Mitt Romney's platform now and he and Representative Ryan who also support the same legislation that Representative Akin supported, around forcible, no exception rape are the people who are in charge of the party and now that's their platform.

COSTELLO: The Republicans' platform may be extreme in your mind, but there have been a wave of anti-choice laws passed across the country and people have voted in these game-changing lawmakers. Doesn't that illustrate to you a shift of beliefs when it comes to abortion in this country?

LAGUENS: I think that people are really waking up to this fact right now that they are really serious about banning safe, legal abortion in this country. And not only that, though, if you look at the positions that are in the party platform -- if you look at the positions that are supported by Governor Romney and Representative Ryan, you'll see it's a very vast agenda, not only around abortion, but around cutting the nation's birth control and family planning programs, about cutting women's access to preventive cancer screenings by de-funding Planned Parenthood, and by saying whether your boss should be able to decide whether or not you get access to these health benefits like birth control.

COSTELLO: Some people might say, you know, I agree with you. But still, when you look across the country and what's happening that people who are pro-choice are simply losing the battle.

LAGUENS: Well, we try not to deal with labels as much as we try to deal with the facts that most Americans in this country support safe, legal abortion. They want women across the board to have access to birth control, to preventive health services. They disagree with taking away funding for these services, and the more that they are hearing directly -- and Todd Akin is really just the tip of the iceberg, and the focus on him and the calls for his resignation.

But the bigger question is, why aren't people calling for the resignation of the 160 co-sponsors of his forcible rape provision, including Representative Paul Ryan who is now a leading member of the Republican Party ticket.

COSTELLO: Dawn Laguens, thanks so much for being with us this morning.

Now, we want to get to --

LAGUENS: Thank you.

COSTELLO: You're welcome.

Now to the other side. Antiabortion support continues to grow in this country. According to Gallup, in 1993, support for abortion under any circumstance was 34 percent, in 2011, that number fell to 25 percent. At the same time, support for making abortion illegal grew from 13 percent to 20 percent.

Carol Tobias is the president of the National Right for Life Committee. She joins us live now.

Welcome, Carol.

CAROL TOBIAS, NATIONAL RIGHT FOR LIFE COMMITTEE: Thank you, Carol. It's great to be here.

COSTELLO: When you look at what's been the Republican platform, support for a human life amendment to the Constitution, do you see that as a hard-fought victory?

TOBIAS: No. No, the Republican Party since 1976 has supported a human life amendment or effort to pass a human life amendment. And unlike what is being reported around the country, this is not going to ban all abortions. The platform does not call for any specific exceptions. It does not get into the weeds as to what should be legal or not.

It says that we have a general principle. We think unborn children should be protected and we'll support efforts to do that.

COSTELLO: Mitt Romney, he supports abortion rights when it comes to rape or incest. Do you support Mitt Romney?

TOBIAS: Oh, absolutely. Mitt Romney is a wonderful, strongly pro- life candidate and we will do everything we can to get him elected.

COSTELLO: The Gallup poll I mentioned. It still shows the majority of Americans think abortion should be legal under certain circumstances, I should say. In light of the Akin controversy, do you worry at all about backlash?

TOBIAS: No. No, the American public would support laws to limit abortion in all or most cases. Most people do not accept the current situation which allows abortion for any reason for all nine months of pregnancy. That's where President Obama is.

No limits on abortion for all nine months and he wants taxpayers to pay for it. He is actually the candidate who is way out of sync with the American public.

COSTELLO: But when you have a sitting congressman coming out and saying things like legitimate rape and somehow a woman's body can defend against getting pregnant if she's under attack -- I mean, wouldn't that cause a backlash. Doesn't that cause some people to say, hmm? And he's very strongly pro-life, right? So some people might think he's kind of crazy too.

TOBIAS: Well, the unfortunate comment was based on some old studies. It was a stupid thing to say, quite frankly. But he has apologized and we will see what the voters of Missouri think about that and whether or not that is someone they want representing them.

COSTELLO: Carol Tobias, thanks for joining us this morning.

TOBIAS: You're welcome. Thank you.

COSTELLO: We've all heard college tuition cost is going up, but at one university, tuition is now cheaper, way cheaper for undocumented students than for some legal students. The university's president will join us to explain why that's a good thing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. The question for you this morning -- should Congressman Todd Akin drop out of the U.S. Senate race? Some would say Todd Akin is either gutsy or delusional. His fellow Republicans all the way up to Mitt Romney are urging him to do the right thing for his family and the Republican Party.

But Akin is not budging. Why should he? When in his mind, he put one unfortunate word in front of the word rape. The whole thing, he says, is overblown.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TODD AKIN (R), MISSOURI: Well, let me say -- this is not about me. This is not about my ego. But it is about the voters of the state of Missouri.

They've chosen me because of principles that I stand on and putting principle over politics. I believe that they stand with me on a whole host of issues.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Akin did win a primary. People did vote for him. He's been in Congress for 12 years. And his views are nothing new.

As Kevin Horrigan puts it kin this morning's "St. Louis Dispatch," quote, "He voted against the school lunch program. He called the morning after pill a form of abortion. He voted against funding autism research, evil vaccines. He called student loans a stage-three cancer of socialism. He questioned the need for the Voting Rights Act and he said the heart of liberalism is really a hatred of God," end quote.

And guess what? At least one poll shows Akin up a point in Missouri. Mr. Akin thinks he can still win. And his fellow Republicans, well, he says, they can be damned. So, the talk back question today -- should Congressman Todd Akin drop out of the U.S. Senate race?

Facebook.com/CarolCNN, Facebook.com/CarolCNN, your comments later this hour.

Naked pictures of Prince Harry in Vegas. Some say it's yet another reason why the third in line to the throne the proving to be one of the most controversial royals of all time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It is just about 30 minutes past the hour. Good morning to you. I'm Carol Costello.

Stories we're watching right now in THE NEWSROOM.

We're just about a minute away from the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange. Ringing the bell today, Scott Sheffield, chairman and CEO of Dallas-based Pioneer Natural Resources.

On Wall Street, stocks are expected to open slightly lower today, investors were also looking into reports on existing home sales and the latest round of corporate earnings.

As early as today, the man convicted of killing former Beatle John Lennon 32 years ago gets a chance at freedom today. Mark David Chapman is up for his seventh parole hearing. The attorney for Lennon's widow Yoko Ono says she's still asking the parole board to deny Chapman's release.

Tropical storm Isaac could become a hurricane by tornado. Warnings are up for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Storm's moving west at about 18 miles per hour. It is unclear whether Isaac could affect the GOP convention in Florida next week.

Britain's Prince Harry may be on a private vacation, but a late night in Vegas is now making headlines thanks to these photos, which show the prince playing a game of strip billiards. Strip pool.

But as you know, Harry is no stranger to controversy. He was thrust into the headlines to just 16 years of age after he was caught drinking underage and using pot. And in 2005, he apologized after being photographed wearing a Nazi soldier uniform to a fancy dress party.

And three years ago, he was the subject of a formal racism inquiry after he was videotaped calling a Pakistani soldier "our little Paki friend."

For more on the wild ways of Prince Harry, I'm joined by royal watcher Richard Fitzwilliams. He's live outside of Buckingham Palace in London.

And, Boy, I'd like to be a fly on the wall there this morning? RICHARD FITZWILLIAMS, ROYAL COMMENTATOR: Well, quite frankly, you know, this isn't the story that it's being made out to be. And we must see this in context. What he was doing was letting off steam at a party and someone was rotten and apparently let out photographs of it.

I mean, it's important to remember that Prince Harry has changed so much since the times that you are referring to. In Afghanistan, he saw 77 days of service ending in 2008 when he had to be pulled out. He's done a great deal for charity, and he's also qualifying as an Apache attack pilot.

So, he intends to return to Afghanistan and serve his country. And also, he has a totally different image here with the population of the whole. So I don't think anyone's going to be bothered about these sort of photos.

COSTELLO: But, Richard, isn't a sense of decorum required when you're in such a public role? I mean he was naked at a hotel. He was playing strip pool and one of his dear friends took pictures of him and posted them online.

FITZWILLIAMS: Well, they did indeed, and they shouldn't have. And in Britain, these sexy moves do show a certain amount of discretion, thank goodness. There was the Nazi uniform, someone undoubtedly leaked that which was deplorable. But as I say, things have changed, he has changed, he's matured.

He's a party person. You must remember this. He'll always be a party person. And we cannot e expect him to behave in a way that, frankly, might be ideal for film all 24 hours of his life.

I don't see this causing concern. I do see a few red faces. I do see some people laughing at him for a while, but frankly, unlike some of his past misdemeanors, which were in past times when he hadn't matured, this is hardly even a storm in a teacup.

COSTELLO: All right. Richard, thanks so much for joining us this morning.

ABC's moving Jimmy Kimmel so he can battle Jay Leno and David Letterman. Can the younger comedian make the vets step up their game in the late-night TV war. And what happens to ABC's "Nightline" anyway?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm just in love with, enamored with the design of the human body. Its elegance, nature has often these very powerful principles, if captured in a technology in a device, can be very, very extraordinary in their capacity to help people move again. So it's -- that's the basic thesis of our work. We steal from the cookie jar of nature. We apply that and build synthetic constructs that emulate that functionality.

(END VIDEO CLIP) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Oh, we're looking at a new late night TV war starting early next year. ABC says it's moving Jimmy Kimmel to 11:35 Eastern. Network executives say having Kimmel go head-to-head with CBS's David Letterman and NBC's Jay Leno will provide potential for more ad revenue. But will it work? And what does it mean for ABC News "Nightline"?

Kareen Wynter takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fans of Jimmy Kimmel will be watching him at a different time next year. ABC announced plans to move the start of his show up a half hour to 11:35 Eastern effective in January, pitting him head-to-head against Jay Leno and David Letterman.

JIMMY KIMMEL, COMEDIAN: Good luck with that.

WYNTER: It's the biggest shake-up in late night since Conan O'Brien got booted from the "Tonight Show" and moved his act to TBS.

MAGGIE FURLONG, HUFF POST TV: I feel like ABC is now giving Kimmel a better time slot, a more prominent time slot on TV. I feel like they're really saying we think this is the future of late night.

WYNTER: Maggie Furlong of Huff Post TV points out that at age 44, Kimmel is considerably younger than Leno and Letterman, who are in their 60s. And he's got ratings momentum. In announcing the decision, ABC said Kimmel is the only late night show on broadcast TV to grow its audience in the past year.

FURLONG: Kimmel is that guy. He's a little bit younger. He's a little bit fresher. He's a little bit raunchier.

WYNTER: Furlong says Kimmel has distinguished himself by taking greater comedy risks, including taped bits with A-list stars.

FURLONG: He's not scared to do the bits that the older guys kind of shy away from because their audience is more varied.

WYNTER: But for ABC, one show's gain is another show's loss. "Nightline", the venerable news show, won't air until 12:35 a.m. Eastern. Some TV critics say that as a death knell for a program that launched over 30 years ago.

But ABC sees greater profit potential with Kimmel airing before "Nightline," and Furlong agrees.

FURLONG: Something, a show that might be working, in order to give people their late night fix I think is a smart idea on ABC's part.

WYNTER: Kimmel will compete against a weakened "Tonight Show" which has seen its ratings soften, although it remains the late night leader.

JAY LENO, COMEDIAN: We've consistently been number one in the ratings.

WYNTER: Comcast, NBC's new parent company, just ordered the "Tonight Show" to cut costs and lay off staff. Something Leno referred to ruefully in Monday night's monologue.

LENO: Welcome to the "Tonight Show" or as Comcast calls us "the expendables."

WYNTER: Kimmel tells the "Hollywood Reporter" moving to the 11:35 time slot is, quote, "a little bit scary," but he doesn't plan big changes in his show, which like Leno and Letterman kicks off with a traditional monologue.

KIMMEL: If you type Paul Ryan into Google, the fourth thing that comes up is Paul Ryan shirtless. Apparently they want a president they can have a beer with and a vice president they can have a threesome with.

WYNTER: As for that three-way race between Kimmel, Leno, and Letterman, some pick the new guy to come out on top.

FURLONG: I feel like he's going to make them raise their game a little bit. Keep your eye on him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Kareen joins us from Los Angeles. So is the writing on the wall? Are the old guys about to get the ax?

WYNTER: Well, you know, Carol, Letterman and Leno are both in their 60s. So at some point, the network, they're going to have to find a replacement and that may be what NBC will do in the future, in order to stay competitive.

For example, with Jimmy Fallon, he's hosted "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" for about three years now. But then, again, you know, Carol, the last time NBC tried to replace Leno with somebody younger, didn't work out too well, Conan O'Brien, it turned out for an embarrassment for the network.

As for Kimmel, you know, he's excited about the change. During his opening monologue last night -- not sure if you caught it -- he said this 25-minute move was the most important 25 minutes of his life. And he joked that he actually hopes this isn't a prank by ABC because that would be pretty cruel.

I don't think it's a prank, though. He's proven himself, he's being rewarded. Kind of makes sense to me, right?

COSTELLO: Karen Wynter, thanks so much.

Undocumented students can pay less, way less in tuition at a Denver- area university than some legal Americans. Is that legal? We'll ask the university's president.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Forty-four minutes past the hour.

Checking our top stories now:

A Washington state man under arrest charged with making unspecified e- mail threats against President Obama and assault on federal officers. Thirty-one-year-old Anton Caluori was armed with a shotgun when he was taken into custody at a Seattle-area apartment. He is scheduled to appear in court this afternoon.

This morning, historians are all abuzz with a discovery of a long lost interview with civil rights icon, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The reel to reel tape was discovered in an attic in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and captured King's thoughts of the sit-in protests going on in 1960.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR., CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST: I'm convinced that when the history books are written in the future years, historians will have to record this movement as one of the greatest epics of our heritage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Oh he was right too, wasn't he?

The homeowner says he'll sell his father's taped interview and hopes actually these tapes will wind up in a museum.

There's a logjam of boats and barges in parts of the Mississippi River. The vital shipping lane has struggled with low water levels brought on by the drought and some stretches are opening only intermittently. Near Greenville, Mississippi, more than 100 ships are now stranded.

More fallout from the devastating drought too, U.S. corn and soybean prices closing at an all-time high on Tuesday. Crops yields in Midwestern and central states are said to be far below the norm and stunningly low, which means we'll probably feel the pinch at the grocery store and at gas pumps nationwide.

And a chaotic scene in Ecuador where a volcano has erupted some 80 miles from the capital of Quito sending ash and lava nearly a mile up into the sky. Residents have been evacuated. The volcano has been active since 1999, it's not like (inaudible) though.

This week, one university started classes with dozens of students who are illegal or undocumented immigrants and they're paying less than some legal Americans to attend that university. It's part of a new tuition rate at Metro State University of Denver.

In-state tuition is $4,300 a year. Immigrants who spent three years in Colorado high schools or have a GED pay just over $7,000. Keep in mind, though, out of state American students would pay more than double that amount.

But for some illegal immigrants who have spent most of their life in America, this makes all the difference. They can now afford to go to college.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VICTOR GALVIN, IMMIGRANT: I'm as American as you know, my brother who was born here. I'm as American as my friends who graduated from high school. It's the equality, you know. They're finally treating us as equals.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Joining us from Denver is Stephen Jordan, the president of Metropolitan State University in Denver. Welcome.

STEPHEN JORDAN, PRESIDENT, METROPOLITAN STATE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning. First of all, tell us why you pushed for this lower tuition rate for undocumented students.

JORDAN: Sure. First of all, we're in a large urban institution serving predominantly the people of Colorado, 97 percent of our students are from the state of Colorado; 91 percent are from the Southern County Metro area.

Since we've been founded, our mission is to serve low-income, first generation students who are trying to change their economic condition. And in Colorado, we have the largest education attainment gap in the country between our majority population, the white population and our largest minority population, Latinos.

It was our view that where the state has invested up to $85,000 in the K-12 education of these young, undocumented students, doesn't it make sense to provide an affordable, unsubsidized, non-resident tuition rate that would allow these young people to get a college education and to become a meaningful contributor to the economy of Colorado?

COSTELLO: You're a public university, right?

JORDAN: That's correct.

WOLF: Which means taxpayer dollars partially fund your university. Some taxpayers might say, hey, my kid wouldn't be afforded the same luxury. Why should these undocumented students get this discount?

JORDAN: Well, first of all, there's a long history in Colorado as many other places, in institutions establishing essentially two classifications of students, residents and non-residents. And resident students typically get a tuition rate that is subsidized by -- by the public through state taxpayer dollars.

Non-resident rates receive no subsidy. And in Colorado, there is a long history of institutions establishing multiple non-resident rates. The non -- the full non-resident rate is not tied to what it cost to provide the education. It's simply tied to what the market will bear.

And I think what we have decided is where these young people have attended a Colorado high school, have graduated from that high school and are in every sense domiciled in Colorado under every condition except meeting the legal definition of -- of citizen that there is an opportunity to provide them a more affordable education without having the taxpayer of Colorado contribute to it.

COSTELLO: But still, there are so many American students out there who simply can't afford to go to college. They just can't afford it. They're not being offering -- they are not being offered many breaks from anyone.

JORDAN: Well, certainly there are an array of tuition rates throughout the country for -- for non-residents. Our institution, as you know, our non-resident tuition rate is -- is roughly $16,000.

But only three percent of our students are non-residents, and I would say that less than one-third of those students pay the full non- resident rate. Most of them are attending the university under some other -- under some other non-resident tuition rate like the Western Undergraduate Exchange where they would simply pay one and a half times our resident rate or almost equivalent to what we're charging these undocumented students.

COSTELLO: There are people within the state of Colorado who are not happy and have threatened to file lawsuits against your university. What could happen if they're successful in their endeavors?

JORDAN: Well sure. You know, clearly, first of all, there's no prohibition for these students attending any university in Colorado. The only question is, can we provide this preferred non-resident rate. If we were to lose that case, then what would happen is that we would be forced to go back to charging these students the full non-resident cost.

We have spent a lot of time investigating both federal and state law and associated court cases and we feel very strongly that we are in a good legal position. And we think it's been reinforced by the recent decisions of the President to both provide a deferral status to individuals that are in the kind of situation that our students are and to provide a work permit for those kinds of students.

COSTELLO: Stephen Jordan, thank you so much for talking about this with us this morning. We appreciate it.

JORDAN: Thank you.

COSTELLO: A bit of breaking news to pass along now. We're learning July home sales are up, 2.3 percent. We're taking a closer look at the numbers and the impact next.

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COSTELLO: Yes, we're talking about number this breaking news. We're learning July home sales are up 2.3 percent. Alison Kosik is live at the New York Stock Exchange. 2.3 percent doesn't sound like much but it is positive news.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is positive news. Up is better than down, especially you're looking at 2.3 percent was from June to July. If you look at the numbers from May to June, that number actually fell, 5 percent. Existing home sales.

So yes, you're seeing kind of this uneven recovery in the housing market continued. 2.3 percent is still good, especially since when we talk about existing home sales, Carol these account for about 90 percent of all the sales in the housing market. So this is good momentum.

We also found out that the median price of these previously owned homes climbed more than 9 percent compared to last year to around $187,000. As far as the market reaction, it did help the market come back a bit from its earlier losses, the Dow trading down only about ten points. It had been down about 30 points just before the number came out.

We're also getting a bit of a glimpse of New Home Sales which come out tomorrow. Luxury home builders, Toll Brothers just released its earnings this morning. Its shares right now are up 3 percent giving other home builders a boost, too. New home sales make up only 10 percent, but it's good to see this momentum picking back up.

The trick though is to see if it continues the next month and the next month. Of course, you still have to see the jobs market recovery because housing and jobs go hand in hand. If you don't have a job, it's going to be hard to pay your mortgage or buy a new home.

COSTELLO: That's for sure.

Alison Kosik, live at the New York Stock Exchange.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts after a short break.

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